Making a home
by Freline
Summary: Two months after he returns home from Erebor, Bilbo Baggins starts to feel lonely. To get his thoughts away from the dwarves, his cousin Primula invites him to her home for her birthday and introduces him to her friend Zinnia, recently widowed mother of two children. He slowly gets closer to her, but the peace is cut short when Gandalf returns with news of the ring he found.
1. Chapter 1

Bilbo sat on a chair in the garden of Bag End, thinking of Thorin, Fili and Kili. When he left, it had seemed to be a good idea to go home quietly and not attend the funerals, but now he started to regret his choices. He would like to get back to Erebor to see what the dwarves had done with it and to see Balin again, the one that had become his closest friend among them. To this day, he still had not finished refurbishing his hole after the auction. Being officially declared dead and then returning was becoming more trouble than he first realized, though his cousin Primula, one of the few who did not call him "Mad Baggins" had helped all she could, while having to look after her newborn son Frodo, now four months old. A week ago she had invited him to her birthday party that evening with a strange gleam in the eyes that made him wary of whatever she had planned, but he had still accepted.

It had been two months since his return and he had only left Bag End when he had needed to buy something. Lobelia Sackville-Baggins had been the only one that regularly visited and the one of his relatives he least wanted to see. He knew that she had long ago realized that and just came to spite him. Turning back to the present, he got off his chair and walked back inside to get ready for the party. He arrived to see that he was the first one there. Primula and her husband Drogo were still busy with the last minute preparations and asked him to wait outside with Frodo. The little boy was one of the most adorable baby hobbits and Bilbo could already see that he would turn quite a few heads when he got to his tweens.

Holding him in his arms brought up another memory he would rather forget, of his first love who broke it up with him a few months before their wedding, for reasons he never knew. She had later married a hobbit from Bree and died giving birth to her first child that was stillborn. The memory still hurt him to this day and was the primary reason he had never gotten married though he had wished to be given the chance to start his own family. He still could, he was not too old yet, but he imagined that not many women were ready to marry one that was viewed as mad.

He was shaken from his thoughts as someone touched his shoulder. Bilbo turned around and noticed Primula standing behind him. She told him that the guests would probably arrive soon. Trying to smile, he went to the gate to wait. The first ones to arrive were his cousins Saradoc Brandybuck and Paladin Took with their wives Esmeralda and Eglantine, followed be a few others he did not know. Soon the party was in full swing and Primula led everyone to their seats. Bilbo had been placed between Saradoc and an unknown woman, a new friend of Primula that had moved from Bree to Hobbiton while he was on the way to Erebor. Before she left, Primula whispered: "Be nice to her, Bilbo. She has been recently widowed with two children to raise on her own." Then she was gone and Bilbo wondered if he was being set up. Well, he would play Primula´s game for a while and then politely excuse himself.


	2. Chapter 2

The party continued until long after midnight. By the time most of the guests had gone home, Bilbo and Zinnia were still sitting in the garden, talking to each other. They did not realize it, but Primula was watching them from the living room, happy that her plan seemed to work so well. As the morning came and the sun was rising, they both regretted having to say goodbye for now, even though they did not mentioned it to the other. As he stood there, watching Zinnia walking away, Bilbo hoped that he would see her again soon.

During the next few months, he started to find excuses to visit Primula´s house, hoping that he would meet Zinnia somewhere on the way, while he tried to keep the real reason secret from his matchmaking cousin, but seeing the smiles she passed him whenever he came by, he knew that he failed miserably.

One year after Thorin, Fili and Kili died he was sitting in the garden of Bag End, remembering his three dwarf friends and wishing that they would have survived the battle against Azog and his army, Zinnia came by and brought a plate full of apple tarts for a surprise to him. Seeing him crying, she put them down inside and then came to sit beside him, putting an arm over his shoulder. They sat in the sun together for several hours and eventually fell asleep next to each other. That day Bilbo decided he would buy a ring and ask Zinnia to marry him on his next birthday, which would be in one month.

The weeks passed by in a blur as Bilbo got everything ready for the day. He wanted it to be perfect for her, though he was a little worried that she would say no, because the memory of her dead first was still too fresh.

The day before the birthday party, Gandalf came by. Finding Bilbo in the kitchen just finishing decorating a cake with the words: "Zinnia, I love you", that he would give to his love and hopefully wife to be after the party, the wizard regretted his news after Bilbo had told him that he hoped to get married soon, but still the danger of the ring could not be overlooked. To not disturb the happiness the hobbit felt and clearly deserved, he decided to wait a few months until he told Bilbo. The morning after the party he woke up to find Bag End empty. Bilbo had left a note on the kitchen table that said: "Zinnia has accepted my proposal. We are going to Brandy Hall for a few days to tell my relatives about the wedding. I leave Bag End to your care until I return. I will leave the ring you asked me about before we parted at the borders of the Shire last year in my nightstand. Take it if you want, I want nothing to do with it anymore, all it does is giving me nightmares.

Your friend, Bilbo Baggins"

PS: "Do not, I repeat, do not let Lobelia Sackville-Baggins in here, no matter what reason she thinks she might have."

Gandalf smiled as he read it, knowing that he would have a few days to make arrangements, should his suspicions about Bilbo´s ring be confirmed. He found it exactly where his friend said it would be, making him wonder about the strength of hobbits even more. Should it be confirmed that it was indeed the One Ring made by Sauron, Bilbo would be the first to break free of it´s power and give it away without force.


End file.
